Congress targets Big Tech with new antitrust rules and expedited lawsuits

What it does

This bill creates new antitrust rules for 'systemically important platforms'—defined as tech companies with over $175 billion in annual revenue and 34% of U.S. users or households. It prohibits these platforms from favoring their own products over competitors, blocking interoperability, tying services together, using competitors' data against them, locking users into defaults, or retaliating against users who report violations. The FTC, Department of Justice, and state attorneys general can enforce these rules through civil lawsuits, with penalties of 1–10% of U.S. revenue and expedited court proceedings.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core function is to establish new antitrust prohibitions and enforcement mechanisms specifically targeting large digital platforms. It is substantively an antitrust statute, not a privacy, consumer protection, or innovation bill, despite the title's invocation of 'choice.'

What the text implies

• The $175B revenue threshold and 34% user threshold are designed to capture approximately 5–6 companies (Meta, Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, TikTok). The bill does not name them, but the thresholds function as a de facto list, creating legal uncertainty for companies near the threshold and potential gaming of revenue/user metrics.
• The 'materially harms competition' standard is undefined and will be litigated extensively. Courts must interpret whether conduct that harms individual competitors (e.g., a search algorithm change) meets this threshold, creating years of uncertainty and potential inconsistent rulings.

The full analysis lists 5 implications of this text.

Who stands to gain

small and mid-sized tech companies competing on major platforms; e-commerce sellers on Amazon, Meta, Google; alternative search engines and app stores